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The term “Retail Apocalypse,” coined around 2010 during a period of rampant closures of numerous North American brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially large chains, threatened to change the face of shopping malls forever. In 2017, the expression “Amazon Effect,” introduced by Business Insider, depicted how the online mega-retailer was generating greater than 50% of the growth of retail sales, seeming to further hammer the nail into the coffin of physical retail.
Principles of contemporary art was the theme that inspired students at Ryerson School of Interior Design, Toronto, ON., to design and build chairs for the 16th annual Wilsonart Challenges Student Chair Design Competition. Beyond basic form and function, each design was also informed by how students used expressive and stylistic contemporary elements such as movement, proportion, contrast, or balance.
They say that successful investing is about managing risk, not avoiding it. And for Laminate Works, investing in high-quality solutions has been worth the risk.
Based in Gaildorf-Broeckingen, Germany, the BMK Group is one of the world’s leading suppliers of surface-coated and impregnated films. BMK recently partnered with PurChem Systems of Canada to offer an innovative single-layer decor, SilentTouch, featuring an anti-fingerprint, soft-touch surface. To learn more about BMK, SilentTouch and the company’s plans for North America, Surface & Panel posed a series of questions to Dr. Stefan Woerl, head of R&D and quality assurance at BMK, and Robert Clausi, president of PurChem.
While much of today’s retail world scrambles to attract walk-in customers in the face of online competition, stores based in airports and other travel hubs have a built-in advantage.
As the retail landscape adapts to changing consumer needs, brands are changing their brick-and-mortar strategy to reach a new equilibrium. The foundation of this process is understanding and accounting for Gen Z shopping habits, a generation that currently comprises 40% of the population and is beginning to have purchasing power.
Google “franchise retail fixtures,” and the first website listing that displays is for F.C. Dadson. The Greenville Wis-based company’s top Google ranking is a reflection of the thousands of franchise stores, salons, restaurants and clinics that the fixture manufacturer has helped open during its 44-year history.
From the beginning, Allbirds aspired to innovate while keeping things simple and sustainable. The strategy worked, so it’s not surprising that the 4-year-old shoe company took the same approach to its retail stores.
When Sport Chek, Canada’s largest sports retailer, expanded and redesigned its flagship store at the Yorkdale Shopping Center in Toronto, it created a shopping experience exemplifying what is necessary to thrive in today’s retail economy.
The brick-and-mortar store is a critical component of the omnichannel experience expected by tech-savvy consumers. It uses best-in-class technological features to seamlessly blend in-store and digital shopping, creating an “endless aisle approach.”
Bricks or clicks?
In the evolving world of retail, savvy businesses know it’s not just one or the other that boosts their bottom lines.
Instead, those retailers are using bricks and mortar and online shopping in tandem, often employing experiential retail as a powerful way to provide consumers with personal, engaging experiences.
Often referred to as experiential retail, shopping, buying or purchasing, it’s a concept that typically involves a store in which consumers do more than buy. Through a store’s engaging and interactive design, often including panel-based fixtures and casegoods, customers experience a brand or product and therefore create a memory that fosters a strong relationship with the retailer.
